The custody battle between embittered ex's Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie has taken a dramatic turn and now finds itself linked to the war in Ukraine, Vodka, and Putin's oligarchs.
DailyMail.com reported that Pitt is accusing his famed ex-wife of trying to damage his reputation by selling her stake in a prized 1,000-acre French vineyard worth a reported $164 million to Yuri Shefler, a Soviet-born oligarch who holds Israeli citizenship and partly owns a sanctioned Russian-made vodka brand.
While Shefler insists he was exiled following criticism of Putin's invasion of Ukraine and rebranded the liquor under the name of "Stoli" from its previous "Stolichnaya", the suit alleges he has had contacts with individuals in the Russian premier's "inner circle."
The lawsuit further claims that, "'The US Treasury Department designated Shefler as an 'oligarch in the Russian Federation' in an unclassified report to Congress made pursuant to the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017...'"
According to Pitt, Jolie "[sold] the property to a competitor bent on taking control of Miraval" to "inflict harm on Pitt." The lawsuit also claims Jolie completed the sale "in the dark", "without alerting Pitt to the matter."
Following their marriage, Pitt reportedly made the property "one of the world's most highly-regarded producers of rosé wine."
The suit claims that the property was not Jolie's to sell and that she had not earned the rights to it.
The sale took place around the time Pitt was awarded 50/50 custody of the couple's six children. Despite the ruling, however, the movie star was later stripped of joint parental control.
Pitt's attorneys say that: "...Miraval's association with Shefler—who has gained notoriety through cutthroat business tactics and dubious professional associations—jeopardizes the reputation of the brand Pitt so carefully built."
"All of this is the direct result of Jolie's unlawful and tortious conduct. In violation of the parties' agreement, Jolie has sought to force Pitt into partnership with a stranger, and worse yet, a stranger with poisonous associations and intentions," continues their claim.